On the Real gibson the Standard and Customs are extremely diffrent regarding wood quality and build quality (Customs are handmade)

On the Epiphone Les Paul it comes down to the details as the woods and crafting are the same. They only differ in their looks so it's up to you if you want a Standard with a bust top or a Custom with double binding, headstock inlay and so on...I would swap the pickups on the Epiphone to get a better sound (especially for metal). Great guitars for the price!!

Other good (I assume Metal guitars) would be an ESP LTD EX 401 or an Epiphone Les Paul from the Prophecy series (Metal Epiphones with EMG and thinner necks!!)

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As your into your metal mate why dont you consider a seven or even an eight string? A guy had an agile eight string weapon at a seminar i went to today, whilst not my taste he was getting some seriously metal tonage out of that thing!

There are tons of great guitar, but you have to decide what you want to play. If you want to go metal, you should definitly go for the Schecter Hellraiser. But if you want to go on other styles, you should go for the second hand Gibson LP Studio

Go for the Hellraiser. Better than an Epiphone, more bang for the buck than an Gibson. Better than a Gibson imo. Why would a Les Paul be more versatile?

Hellraisers are certainly not more bang for the buck than gibson. hellraisers from from $400-600 New. If you decide to upgrade the pick ups, that is another $100-200. you will need to take your hellraiser to a plek to get the frets as nice as the ones on a gibson...add another $300..do not get me started on korean quality VS MIJ or MIA...the list goes on and on.

regular gibsons are great deals...you can always choose to pay more for bells and whistles though.

as for versatility..gibsons sound great for everything. I never cared much for them, but i certainly respect them. I know many Death metal players who play on the same gibson as many blues and jazz players.

and in my honest opinion, there is no such thing as a guitar better for this genre or that genre. anyone can play anything on any guitar. Strats can do metal...even telecasters can do metal...ive seen ibanez guitars do jazz..it is all about the player, not the guitar.

second hand gibson is the way to go in this case. throw down the money...get a guitar that will last you for years, and go home happy

Lets just make this clear mate, if you like the Les Paul sound (Who doesnt) then you have to buy a Les Paul, I know it sounds obvious but trust me, I have owned two and NOTHING ELSE will give you the same sound.Thats not to say a PRS SC245, my own Lag, Schecter etc dont sound great, they do, but they arent les pauls! And therein lies the problem, because the method of construction is what gives them that sound, but is also what put me off keeping mine, I love the tone but I just couldnt click with mine so it had to go.My own personal opinion is that there would be better axes for your style of metal but the LP will be right up there with any guitar on thumping rock tones and some drop tune shizzle, either way mate you end up with a fantastic, if a little unwieldy, guitar!

Since you obviously don't know what to get I would suggest to get to a BIG music store and try stuff out.

I don't know where you live and if there are such stores arround but I would rather make a 1 day roadtrip with a couple of hundred miles to a guitar store to find my dream guitar then buying something from afar that some dudes on the internet said it was best for me^^

Seriously though, try to travel to a store by any means neccessary! Do what Hammerfall tell you to do!!

I will go to my nearsest music stores on saturday and there i will try out as many different guitars as i can but it is not that big music store so they might not have all the guitars i want to try out